Becoming a Hunter in a Dark Fantasy-Chapter 99 : Chapter 99

Chapter 99: Batevil Royal Family (2)
‘W-What in the world just happened?’
The eyes of one Depicio assassin trembled violently.
Something utterly impossible was unfolding right before his eyes!
“Hmm?”
In less than a minute—every last member of the Depicio Umbra Special Forces stationed here had been annihilated by a single individual!
“So... you’re the last one, then?”
The blond boy stared at the stunned assassin, who stood frozen in place.
He walked along a path drenched in the blood of his kin—like death itself approaching in tangible form.
‘A Reaper.’
That had to be a reaper, without a doubt.
“Aaaaaaagh—!!”
At that moment, the assassin felt a sensation like a jolt running through him—an overwhelming fear of death he had never experienced before!
“Y-You monster!!!”
Crumpled to the ground, the assassin managed to squeeze out a scream from his parched throat.
He was seized by the anxious compulsion to say something, anything.
“At the end... they all say the same thing. Honestly...”
The last surviving assassin locked eyes with the boy’s piercing blue irises, colder than the ocean depths.
‘Ah... this is the end.’
That fleeting thought flashed through him—just as:
“Predictable.”
—Slice!
Just moments earlier, a mysterious intruder had appeared without warning. A boy with radiant blond hair that gleamed even in the pitch-dark night.
One of the assassins standing guard on Batevil Palace’s wall spotted him.
“Commander! There’s an intruder in front of the gate!”
The subordinate immediately ed it to the commanding officer in charge of the assassins.
“...How could an outsider have made it in? The road leading to the palace should be blocked off by the Renion Causeway.”
The Depicio assassins hadn’t even considered that part of the Renion Causeway had been destroyed—by Elwin.
It was far enough away that they hadn’t heard the noise, and it had never crossed their minds that someone powerful enough to sever an adamantite causeway might just pass by right now.
They had no idea that the Top Hunter of Yellow had become deeply entangled in this final operation for their great cause.
“Shall we check?”
“No. We’ve got more important matters right now.”
Depicio was mere steps away from achieving their long-cherished ambition, their sacred cause.
They could not tolerate even a sliver of interference that might hinder their comrades infiltrating the palace in search of the “elimination target.”
“I don’t know how that one got in here…”
The commander let a cold smile rise to his lips and gave an order.
“Leave no witnesses. Kill him. Erase every trace.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Depicio assassins responded calmly. They each drew different weapons in silence and bowed low.
Without any communication or signal, the assassins suddenly began leaping over the palace wall one after another, aiming straight for the intruder.
With poised stances and lightning speed, they blended seamlessly into the dim background—vanishing entirely.
As though they were shadows themselves.
All of the Depicio members present belonged to the Umbra clan.
A clan of assassins—trained in killing arts from childhood to old age.
And now it was night. With their shadow affinity, their power and stealth were amplified several times over in darkness.
‘You walked into your own doom.’
Shing—!
The first assassin to reach the target took advantage of the shadows, drawing a single-edged blade curved like a crescent moon.
The tip gleamed as it hovered directly over the target’s head.
‘This is the end.’
Everyone there believed the boy’s torso would be cleaved in two and he’d die instantly.
But the result was the complete opposite.
Splatter—!
A fountain of blood erupted violently. But it wasn’t the boy—it was his ally who’d been cut down!
And at the same time, those about to charge suddenly collapsed without warning.
They hadn’t even seen the boy move, but their bodies were already in pieces—torsos severed from legs, lying in a grotesque heap.
Clang!
The sound of a blade dropping to the ground rang loudly through the silent courtyard.
‘Who is he?’
That was the one thought that all the assassins shared.
And then another followed immediately—
‘He’s strong...!!!’
Not a single one of them had seen the boy’s movements.
All they’d seen was their comrades ready to strike—and then suddenly, they were dead.
“Hmm. Not going to attack?”
The boy spoke, but none of them could answer. They didn’t have the presence of mind left to form a reply.
Cold sweat ran down their backs. Even though they had long severed themselves from emotion, what little remained screamed in warning.
“If you’re Depicio assassins, you shouldn’t be losing your nerve just because a few comrades died.”
—That boy is dangerous!
‘Perhaps even more than the leader we revere!’
The commander swallowed hard. As an assassin who’d lived his entire life in the shadows, he knew—
Even the most seasoned assassin would unconsciously show killing intent at the moment of a strike.
‘But that one...!’
The boy remained pristine in appearance. Though he had just butchered dozens of their kin, there was no bloodlust—no aura of menace.
‘Does he think we’re not even worth killing himself? Or is he a master so skilled that even I can’t detect his intent?’
...Does he even see us as the same species?
Shudder—!
As that thought struck, chills ran down his spine. Instinct screamed that something was wrong—but it was far too late to run now.
He managed to open his mouth.
“...You know about us, don’t you?”
“Of course. Why else would I be here?”
“...I see. Then there’s no need for further words.”
The boy smiled sweetly.
“You can all come at me at once.”
Like he was tossing scraps to a pack of stray dogs—compassionate, even.
“...We won’t refuse.”
But to the weak, even a scrap of mercy from the strong was as valuable as gold.
‘Your arrogance will be our chance!’
With just a glance, the commander signaled to the others. They would unleash their most coordinated offensive.
The assassins moved in perfect unison—as though a single entity.
Each one condensed shadow into a massive flail and lunged at their target with everything they had.
Fwoooosh!
But in that moment—an explosive surge of mana burst from the boy’s blade.
The radiant slash swallowed the shadows and expanded, engulfing the assassins completely.
‘Ah.’
They’d thought going all-out would tip the scale—but they’d miscalculated completely.
The opponent wasn’t someone they could even stall for a few seconds.
‘Mountain Elder...’
As his body dissolved in the blinding light, the commander had one final thought:
Perhaps the cause they’d yearned for all their lives would wither into nothing—without ever blooming.
“With this, the gate guards are taken care of.”
Having wiped out all the assassins near the palace gate, Elwin turned his gaze toward the inner grounds of the Batevil royal palace.
He could still sense numerous presences. Allies? Enemies? He couldn’t be sure yet.
“If it’s Depicio, I’ll have to deal with it swiftly.”
There were people inside this palace who must survive.
“Please be safe.”
Gripping his sword tightly, Elwin shot toward the palace like a streak of lightning.
***
The Spero Members’ Arrival at Batevil Royal Palace
The Spero members sprinted after Elwin, who had suddenly taken off like a madman. But before they knew it, he was already long gone—his figure, even his shadow, nowhere to be seen.
By the time the three of them reached the Batevil royal palace, they were far behind.
“……?!”
And what they witnessed there defied words—pure devastation.
“Ugh! Are there no survivors?”
“...This is brutal.”
“N-No, there’s no sign of any life left…”
The gates were drenched in blood, and corpses were strewn about like butchered meat in a marketplace.
Guards, sentries, maids, servants… regardless of rank or station, everyone had been slaughtered.
“Depicio again.”
Amid the carnage, a few beastkin bodies in black attire were also visible, though their numbers were significantly fewer.
“Don’t tell me… that ominous feeling from earlier…”
Sercia gripped the hem of her robe tightly and bit her lip until it bled.
‘If only I hadn’t dismissed that sense of foreboding. If I’d told Elwin and we’d arrived just a little earlier… would it have changed anything?’
She felt as though she’d failed to notice something crucial—that this tragedy was her fault.
The blood-soaked scene triggered memories of horrors she’d tried to forget.
And on the passing breeze, it was as if a young voice whispered—
—Sercia, it’s your fault. Everyone died because of you…!!!
“Miss, pull yourself together.”
“Sercia.”
“……!!”
Two hands came down on her shoulders.
Gale and Calix, having spoken at the same time, now looked at each other and frowned instinctively.
Their shared glance clearly said, Of all people, why him? But in such a dire moment, there was no time for squabbling.
“It’s not your fault. Someone else did this. Why take on guilt that isn’t yours?”
“It wasn’t you. Don’t blame yourself.”
They both knew from experience—when things didn’t go as she wished, Sercia had a tendency to bite her lip and spiral into self-reproach.
Despite her composed exterior, her inner heart was not so resolute.
Gale, sharp as ever, and Calix, with his unexpectedly tender side, both picked up on it quickly.
“……”
Sercia listened quietly to their awkward attempts at comfort.
Then, without warning, she slapped her own cheek hard.
Smack!
The sharp sound startled both men. Did she take their words so harshly that she fell into deeper self-harm?
“...Thank you. That snapped me out of it.”
She calmly stepped over the blood-soaked threshold into the palace.
Just before disappearing inside, she looked back.
“What are you two doing? Let’s go. We have to catch up to Lord Elwin.”
“Huh? O-Oh, right.”
“...Coming.”
Her sudden change in attitude was puzzling, but the two men followed her without further comment.
She thought, rather absently—having comrades was… nicer than she expected.
“For now, let’s search the place. There might still be someone alive.”
They combed through the blood-drenched palace, bodies everywhere.
The Batevil royal palace, once clearly a place of beauty, was now drowned in sticky silence.
“No survivors...”
Their search yielded nothing. The only life signs in the entire palace were from the three of them.
Even warhorses, hunting hounds, livestock—chickens, pigs—everything had been mercilessly slaughtered.
“…Judging by the lack of coagulated blood and the state of the corpses, this massacre happened not long ago. Maybe two or three hours?”
Sercia muttered, her teeth clenched.
“To kill them so brutally… This has to be Depicio’s doing again, doesn’t it?”
“This is extreme. Even in full-blown war between hostile nations, it’s rare to see a massacre like this.”
Gale muttered with a furrowed brow. Having once roamed battlefields as a mercenary, he could tell.
The carnage at Batevil Palace was abnormal.
“In my experience, it’s usually one thing. A hate crime.”
Such grotesque butchery often stemmed from deep, seething hatred.
But what reason could Depicio possibly have to bear such hostility toward the Batevil royal family?
If anything, it should’ve been the royal family that despised them.
“Anyway, we’re not in a position to recover bodies right now. Let’s just find that brat first.”
But strangely, even in this vast palace, the easily noticeable blond figure was nowhere to be seen—not even a strand of hair.
“That little brat... where the hell is he? I told him to say something before running off.”
Gale grumbled.
“Maybe he’s in an area we haven’t checked yet?”
“We’ve already searched from the main gate to the garden, annex, training hall, kitchen, main hall, and banquet room...”
“Hm? Feels like we’ve been everywhere, doesn’t it?”
The three fell into thought.
Then suddenly, Sercia cried out,
“Ah! There’s one place we haven’t been yet!”
“Where?”
Sercia’s amethyst eyes sparkled with keen insight.
“The Audience Hall!”